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Post by The Sidhe on Jan 13, 2013 22:33:24 GMT -5
Alan could hear footsteps. Still crouched beneath the sink, he stared out into the darkness. Wait, wasn’t the basement where the old woman had supposedly buried her grandchildren? That’s what the babysitter had said, but he hoped she was wrong. If that was the case, he’d just completely screwed himself over. Why had he thought that investigating the old house was a good idea? If he made it out of this mess alive, Alan was staying inside his room for the rest of forever no matter what. Sun and school be damned, a safety blanket to keep ghosts and goblins away was all her needed.
Voices. They sounded the same as the ones he’d heard earlier, but the girl’s sounded muffled. She was still up there! Alan huffed and drew his knees into his chest. He was sure as hell trapped now. He couldn’t just go back up the steps, the ghosts would be there! Wait, had the male voice just said his name? How in the hell would the ghosts know his name? Raising an eyebrow, Alan uncurled a bit from the corner before stopping abruptly. Wait, what was he doing? This could be another trap! Still, it was weird for a ghost to know his name. Ghosts couldn’t read minds, he knew that much.
Gathering his courage, Alan moved at a snail’s pace away from the corner. Hunkering down with his shoulders hunched up around his ears, he crept silently over to peer around the old banister at the foot of the creaky stairs leading down to where he was in the basement. He could barely see up through the dim, dusty light but he did catch a glimpse of someone with dark hair. Gasping, Alan turned around and pressed himself back against the wall that ran alongside the stairs, blocking him from view. Hide, he needed to hide! Feeling his way along in the darkened corner, he found that there was a crawl space under the stairs and quickly crouched underneath it.
Along the far wall was a small window, letting in just enough light to keep the basement from being completely dark. It was a long shot, but if the ghost showed up again Alan’s best chance was to make a mad dash for that window well and crawl out through it. He only hoped that it still opened. If he was trapped down here, he was doomed.
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Post by Rhett Minsky on Jan 14, 2013 19:23:24 GMT -5
Alright now finding the kid was going to be a bit more difficult. Currently they didn’t know where the kid was and having Lior approach him would probably end badly as well. Plus the ghost comment did seem to upset Lior so he didn’t want that to happen again. Trying to follow the kid’s path Rhett walked through the building Rhett did have a vague idea about where the kid had gone. There weren’t that many choices considering the level of disarray that the building was in. Alan probably hadn’t crawled into any collapsed area where he wouldn’t be able to escape, which left the basement as the best place to look.
Turning to Lior he didn’t know exactly what to say to her. He didn’t want Alan to get scared by her and say something again. Luckily he did have a plan for how to deal with everything and with any luck it would work out. Regardless there wasn’t much else to do considering the kid had essentially cornered himself by going into the basement. Sighing Rhett looked at Lior and gave a slight grin.
”Don’t worry, I have a plan. Just stay right here for a second.”
Done giving Lior the brief outline of his plan Rhett walked over to the edge of the stairs and looked into the basement. It was certainly dark and he couldn’t see the kid from where he was. Hopefully everything would work and they could get the kid out of the house and complete the mission. Tipping over the edge of the stairs Rhett allowed himself to break apart and transform into the screw that was his weapon form. Falling down the stairs he couldn’t see anything but eventually landed against the floor of the basement. Everything was dark and his eyes hadn’t adjusted to the low light now that he was in weapon form. Hoping his idea worked he spoke out into the darkness.
”Hey Alan, come here.”
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Lior Menke
Meister
Screw Technician
You can't control the wind, but you can adjust your sails.
Posts: 107
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Post by Lior Menke on Jan 15, 2013 0:10:30 GMT -5
Lior hated to send Rhett along on his own, but what choice did they have? Okay to be completely truthful she could have still tagged along, but she hardly saw the point. For one, Alan would most certainly just run away from her again, possibly screaming as her went. Plus in her current state of pathetically restrained weeping over feeling sorry for herself, Lior couldn’t see how she would be of help. In her mind it really would be their best bet to just let Rhett find the kid. Hopefully the most logical of the two would be able to coax the kid out of hiding.
The albino did feel a bit reassured by her Weapon, but then she supposed that was what partners were for. Lior wiped her eyes and returned Rhett’s grin with a small, timid smile of her own,
“I’ll be here. You go get ‘em, tiger.”
Lior did try to sound encouraging even if her voice was still a bit softer than usually, her tone quivering a bit. The albino was starting to calm down, but it would be wrong to say that she wasn’t still a tad upset. It was so silly, though. At least to her it was silly. Trying to find a bright side to everything, she had to admit that this kid had guts. If he’d really thought that she was a ghost then it must’ve taken quite a bit of courage to run past her. With that comment still ringing fresh in her ears, the albino sighed at herself. She really needed to not dwell on such things.
Slowly, the albino got to her feet, dusting off the back of her skirt from where she’d landed on the rotten wood of the floor. Hopefully it wasn’t stained or anything. That would just make the day all the more worse. Fiddling with the handle of her parasol, Lior stared after the doorway where Alan and Rhett had both disappeared through. She heard a light banging sound, like that of something falling. Somewhat worried by it, Lior took a step forward before pausing. No, she needed to stay put. Partly because Rhett had told her too, but also because there wasn’t much she could do aside from terrorize the poor boy. Clasping the handle of her parasol with both hands, Lior waited patiently. She would trust her Weapon and what he had planned. Hopefully the boy would come quietly now that she wasn’t visible.
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Post by The Sidhe on Jan 15, 2013 11:27:41 GMT -5
Alan remained huddled under the stairwell, listening for anything that sounded even remotely like a ghost. The light was even dimmer in the basement than it was downstairs, and the boy could barely make out vague shapes now that he was thinking clearly enough to actually bother with looking around properly. Varying tones of muted black was all her really saw, and for a moment he wondered if there was already a ghost somewhere near him. Maybe there was and he just couldn’t see it because it was so dark. Maybe it had turned invisible like ghosts did. Alan felt a chill go through him and he hunkered down nearer to the floor. He just wanted to go home at this point; he was so done with this haunted house.
Footsteps made Alan stop shaking and sit stock still. Clapping his hands over his mouth, he tried to muffle his breathing even though it betrayed his whereabouts anyway. Whoever it was, they were close. He could tell by how the floorboards creaked. With that having had him on edge to say the least, the banging as something fell down the stairs sent Alan stumbling out of his hiding spot to stand in the middle of the basement, shaking in his boots as he looked around wildly,
“W-Who is it? Who’s there?”
The boy did not see what he’d expected. Alan had imagined the ghost of a corpse being flung downstairs, or maybe the other ghost he’d seen earlier throw something at him. No, instead there was a screw. An oversized screw lay at the bottom of the stairs. Utterly confused but still terrified, Alan tilted his head and inched forward a bit. What in the world was something like that doing in here? More importantly, where had it come from? The voice that came suddenly from nowhere made the boy yelp and stumble back, once again turning around and around looking for the source. Wait, he’d heard that voice before! It was the same male voice from earlier! Pausing, Alan took one tentative step forward, then another, slowly making his way towards the screw. Glancing around once as he reached it, the boy knelt down and whispered to it,
“H-hello?”
Talking to a disembodied voice coming from a screw on the floor. It wasn’t exactly what Alan considered haunted, after all a piece of hardware could hardly be considered a ghost. A phantom screw was nothing to be scared of unless it started levitating and trying to impale him. If that happened, then he’d run, but for now he figured he would at least see whether he was hallucinating or not.
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Post by Rhett Minsky on Jan 17, 2013 19:40:48 GMT -5
Going to retrieve Alan without Lior wasn’t exactly what Rhett wanted but it was the easiest way. At least Lior didn’t seem to mind too badly. She offered a few words of encouragement before he went tumbling into the basement. Regardless of warnings falling down the stairs wasn’t that unpleasant, at least from a pain standpoint. The bouncing was a little uncomfortable but it was a mild inconvenience at best. Once he landed on the floor a few moments of dizziness was all he had to deal with until it was over. Next was the important part and possibly the harder part.
Luckily he had gotten Alan’s attention from his fall but getting him to not run away was the big part. Good good he was walking toward him. Just a little more cooperation and this would work out perfectly. For whatever reason Alan didn’t seem to have as many reservations about talking to an overly large screw as he did to a normal person with albinism. It was confusing so Rhett decided not to bother trying to make sense of it. Whatever the scared mind of a child was thinking he didn’t want to try and make sense of.
”Hello Alan. I know you’re scared so try picking me up. That should prove I’m not a ghost right?”
Getting him to understand that he wasn’t a ghost was the prime part of his plan, also getting him to pick Rhett up would be helpful. Of course there was always the chance that Alan didn’t listen and in that case he would just have to corner him in the basement or chase him out so Lior could take care of him. His ideal plan was a lot easier and involved less physical activity. All Alan had to do was work with him so they could get out of this abandoned house.
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Lior Menke
Meister
Screw Technician
You can't control the wind, but you can adjust your sails.
Posts: 107
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Post by Lior Menke on Jan 18, 2013 16:32:50 GMT -5
Lior turned her head towards the doorway again. She could hear someone scurrying around I the basement. She assumed it was Alan since with Rhett’s asthma it probably wouldn’t be a good idea for her partner to try and run, especially not in an abandoned old house full of dust. The albino then assumed that he’d managed to flush the scared boy out of hiding somehow. She wasn’t exactly sure how he would have accomplished that, but then Lior wasn’t exactly the most creative when it came to planning things, particularly not now since her one idea had fallen through entirely and gotten them into this mess in the first place.
She hoped that the somewhat muffled voice she heard were a good sign. Granted she hadn’t heard any screaming yet, so she could only assume that Rhett was faring better at getting Alan to calm down than she had. The more she thought about, the more Lior wondered why she had even tried in the first place. It had very clearly been a complete lapse in judgment on her part. After all, they were in a supposedly haunted house and she was, quite literally, pale as a ghost. Sighing, she covered her face with her hands. It wasn’t the child’s comment bothering her now so much as it was the fact that she had apparently lost all higher brain function.
The albino tried to look on the bright side of things. They knew where Alan was hiding and there was nowhere else for him to run to. Worst case scenario was that they wound up literally chasing him out the front door, although Lior would rather not have to terrify the poor boy any more than she already had, intentionally or otherwise. Besides, she could hear Rhett’s voice now as well. Whatever was happening, he seemed to be handling it, at least from where she still stood upstairs. Glancing around, Lior sighed and crossed her arms. Whatever he was doing, she hoped it worked fairly quickly. The house was undoubtedly creepy, and being left alone even just one room over and up was starting to put her slightly ill at ease.
Curse her tendency to be paranoid, not that her being so hard on herself for scaring the boy was helping. Pursing her lips as the ‘evil ghost’ comment tore through her mind again; Lior closed her eyes and bowed her head a bit. She wanted to stop feeling sorry for herself, but her thoughts just wouldn’t let well enough alone. At least she wasn’t crying. She could always be crying, and that wouldn’t help anything at all.
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Post by The Sidhe on Jan 19, 2013 17:44:38 GMT -5
For a brief moment, Alan thought he was losing his mind. It was a talking screw. The boy paused and actually pinched his arm to be sure he hadn’t fallen asleep and wasn’t still in the cupboard. He winced and shook his head. Nope, totally awake, this was a thing that was happening. There really was a talking screw lying on the floor before him.
On second thought, maybe it wasn’t so strange. It took him a moment, but Alan recalled his brother talking about something like this. His brother was a student at Shibusen. Apparently here were people who turned into weapons to fight bad guys or something cool like that. Alan went out on a limb and assumed this talking screw was one of them, but then where had he been when that ghost had wandered in? Knowing now that it hadn’t been ghosts mimicking a male voice trying to trick him earlier, the boy heaved a sigh of relief. He wasn’t going to die in here. Maybe. They still had to get the hell out after all.
Pick him up? Why would he-oh. The ghost thing. Alan actually had the nerve to roll his eyes. What, did this guy think he was stupid? Of course he wasn’t a ghost. Ghosts didn’t turn into giant pieces of hardware! Still, Alan humored him, bending down a bit and taking the screw in his hands. It was heavier than he’d thought it would be and he strained a bit to keep upright. Appearing relieved nonetheless, Alan blinked,
“Okay, I believe you. I don’t think ghosts can turn into screws anyway. That’d be stupid.”
It would be stupid, stupid and terrifying. Alan didn’t even want to think about flying ghost screws chasing after him. Still, there was another matter that was bothering the boy. He could head something shifting upstairs every now and again, although the sound was muffled. Pursing his lips, Alan turned and gazed up the staircase. He squinted a bit, but that didn’t help him too much in the way of seeing better. The dim light wasn’t what was bothering him, though. Looking back to the screw in his hands, the boy voiced his remaining concerns,
“Um…is the ghost I saw earlier still up there? If she is, how are we going to get out?”
Alan said this in a whisper. He didn’t want to attract the attention of the ghost lest they wound up being torn limb from limb. The boy didn’t fancy dying, at least not on this occasion and certainly not by being eaten by some ghost.
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Post by Rhett Minsky on Jan 24, 2013 3:19:38 GMT -5
Timing was everything if this was going to work. Well technically it was timing with cooperation from Alan. As long as Alan didn’t do anything else that was mind numbingly stupid this may get them both out soon. Luckily the kid did pick him up like he was instructed. Rhett noted how he had some difficulty holding him but didn’t think too much of it. This was probably an example of incompatible wavelengths, interesting but unimportant currently. Once he heard Alan say he believed him Rhett would have let out a sigh of relief. Though Alan did mention the ghost shortly after and Rhett was again close to face palming.
”Alright since you believe I’m not a ghost.”
Transforming back into his human form Rhett made sure to fall off Alan’s hand and land on his feet. A little off balance but not enough to fall he reached and grabbed Alan by the back collar of his shirt. They had to get him out and Rhett didn’t plan on having this kid run away from them again. Having a grip on the kid’s shirt Rhett could keep him from bolting and not hurt him so that was a plus. Giving a somewhat reassuring smile toward Alan he just hoped the kid could see it and understand.
”I didn’t see any ghost. Now let’s get you out of here and not get separated.”
Done making sure Alan wasn’t going to run away Rhett stood up and began to lead Alan to the stairs. He wasn’t foolish enough to think that Alan would accept Lior right away but he would just have to deal with it. They were going to walk right up to Lior and Alan didn’t have any choice in the matter. If he had his way Alan would be apologizing to the ‘ghost’ before they left.
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Lior Menke
Meister
Screw Technician
You can't control the wind, but you can adjust your sails.
Posts: 107
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Post by Lior Menke on Jan 24, 2013 23:38:03 GMT -5
More voices, definitely those of her partner and Alan. Lior let out a sigh of relief. At least one of them had him talking. Hopefully Rhett was getting through to the boy, whatever he was saying. It had to be something encouraging or at the very least comforting, otherwise she doubted the boy would be speaking. Granted she couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. The separation of a floor prevented her from hearing the exact words, but at least all sounded calm and collected. If there hadn’t been any screaming by now, the albino could only hope that there wouldn’t be any to speak of in the near future. The less unfortunate episodes of brief terror, the better as far as she was concerned.
Granted they’d already messed that up, or rather she had. No, stop right there. Lior would not start thinking about it again. She wasn’t going to go back around and around in circles about how stupid she’d been in assuming the kid would recognize her as an albino and not a ghost come to tear him apart and feast on his flesh. Okay, well she hadn’t intended to, but now she of course was. Lightly knocking herself on the head with a fist, she tried to think of anything else but her perceived failure at everything.
It could be worse. The kid could have stayed hidden and they would’ve had to drag him out kicking and screaming. He could have tripped down the stairs while running and seriously injured himself. He could have a severe dust allergy and have died before they ever got to them. Her messing up was not nearly as bad as any of those highly implausible if not impossible scenarios that they thankfully had not encountered. Lior wasn’t sure that she wouldn’t have been able to deal with any of those with any manner of tact or sound mind, so she was thankful for such things.
Still, her mind switched almost instantly back to her messing up, however minor it may have been. To her it was huge. Messing up in general she didn’t have an issue with. She was only human and she did have a tendency to be naïve, she knew this. However messing up on a mission was different. They were only NOT students now, but what if something like this happened when they reached One Star status? How would she deal with it then? She certainly couldn’t just recoil into her thought and sit crying like a child. That wouldn’t be acceptable and would only hinder their progress. She needed to suck it up and learn to deal with the possibility that certain stinging words could be said. But now was not the moment she would learn to do that, she realized. As a few fresh tears welled up in her eyes and tumbled down her face, Lior sniffled and closed her eyes. She really was pathetic.
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Post by The Sidhe on Jan 26, 2013 14:34:55 GMT -5
That sigh sounded relieved. Alan was starting to feel a bit guilty. If the screw was telling the truth, then he’d been rather difficult. Since he had no reason to lie to him, the boy hunched his shoulders a bit and cast his gaze downwards towards the floor. He couldn’t be blamed that much though, right? It was a spooky old house and he was still kinda scared. Most of his fear had diminished what with the screw in his arms, but if a ghost attacked him, he doubted he could use it against anything. It was too heavy for him to maneuver, and Alan wasn’t exactly your run of the mill gallant hero poised to rush into battle with bad spirits.
Oh what? As the screw tipped off his hand, Alan sort of made to catch it until he realized it was changing form. If the thought of a ghostly screw hadn’t been entirely preposterous in his mind, then the boy would have shrieked and started running again. However since he didn’t think that ghost could turn into tools or hardware, he stayed put, albeit looking somewhat dumbfounded. The boy blinked, staring up at Rhett for a moment,
“Holy toast, that’s so cool!”
It was a neat trick for certain, although that thought quickly faded as Rhett grabbed the back of his shirt collar. Alan struggled a bit but then gave up, pouting a bit before hearing the reason. Yeah okay, so it would be a bad idea to get separated, and he did have a tendency to run first and think later when he got scared. The pout remained on his face though as he was guided up the stairs. Every single step protested under their weight, the sound making Alan feel a bit nervous again even though his rescuer had supposedly not seen any ghost on his way down. That didn’t mean that she wasn’t still hiding somewhere.
Alan gave up on the idea of trying to struggle free of the screw boy’s grip. For one he didn’t think he could manage it and for two, he didn’t want to risk a smack to the back of the head. His mom always did that whenever he misbehaved. He could swear it was gonna give him brain damage and had voiced his concerns many a time only to be told to stop being so dramatic. The two did reach the top of the stairs soon enough, Alan being more or less guided the whole way. However his mindset of relatively calm returned to its previous state of all around panic as he managed to catch a glimpse of pure white from just around the doorway. Letting out a rather pathetic squeal, the boy twisted around enough to hide at least partially behind Rhett and whisper,
“Y-y-you first! S-s-she’s still out t-there!”
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Post by Rhett Minsky on Feb 1, 2013 10:40:10 GMT -5
Resisting the urge to roll his eyes at the kid’s comment Rhett continued on with his plan. With Alan in tow they made their way to the stairs that would lead out of the stupid basement. Scared child or not Rhett wasn’t going to waste more of his time trying to persuade Alan to cooperate. The sooner they got out of this mess the sooner they would be closer to reaching one star rank and the chance of Rhett having an asthma attack decreased. Breathing in enough dust already just by going into the basement he was more than done with this kid.
Managing to at least get to the top of the stairs Rhett would have given a sigh of relief in better conditions. The upper floor was hardly better than the basement as far as dust content went. If anything there was more junk scattered around the ground floor so there was even more surfaces for dust to collect on. Walking as best as he could with Alan everything seemed to be working according to plan until Alan had another scared moment. Rhett couldn’t say he wasn’t expecting something like this but was still annoyed none the less.
Looking out to what was ahead of them Rhett knew what had caused the episode. For wanting to get out Alan wasn’t being very cooperative. Repositioning the child to stand in front of him again Rhett tightened the grip on his collar.
”I didn’t see any ghost. Just keep walking and we’ll be out soon. Besides if there is a ghost I’m right here.”
He hoped that was reassuring enough, if not oh well. It was at times like these that Rhett wished his partial form was the point of the screw. At least then he could use it to be somewhat threatening. Pressing the flat head of a screw against Alan’s back wasn’t likely to do any more than possibly make the kid pee his pants. So Rhett kept to just the grip on his collar while leading Alan toward the exit. They would run into Lior eventually but Alan wasn’t going to be making any sudden escapes this time.
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Lior Menke
Meister
Screw Technician
You can't control the wind, but you can adjust your sails.
Posts: 107
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Post by Lior Menke on Feb 3, 2013 17:00:36 GMT -5
Lior covered her face with her hands. This was stupid! She was acting no better than the eight year old they’d been sent in to recover! Then again, maybe she ought to hide. If Rhett had the boy calm enough that she could hear them moving closer, then maybe it would be better if she was out of sight. Then he could just walk the boy, give him a shove out the front door, and they’d be done with this whole fiasco. Wiping her eyes and sniffling, she glanced around but saw nowhere she could really disappear to. She wasn’t small enough to fit in the cupboard Alan had used as his hiding place. Crawling under the table would be silly since he would obviously still see her, and even if she moved to the foyer or the only other accessible room she would still come into view at some point.
Rhett would just have to find a way to keep the boy going through the house. Lior certainly couldn’t do it, not with Alan having run screaming at the sight of her. Speaking of Alan, she heard the little boy’s voice much clearer now, coming from just around the corner.
“Y-y-you first! S-s-she’s still out t-there!”
Oh good grief, he’d seen her already. Lior hadn’t noticed him peek around the doorway, but it was obvious he’d seen her. Having someone be so scared of her definitely stung like she wouldn’t have expected. Ghost was by no means the worst insult hat had been hurled at her but while Lior may have hated to be coddled, she certainly did act like she was made of glass. More tears welling up in her eyes before she could stop them, a small hiccup left her as the albino hunched her shoulders and screwed her eyes shut. Maybe she’d cry less if the tears had nowhere to leave from, even though she was proven wrong as they continued to roll freely down her cheeks. She felt ridiculous, reduced to tears by a mere child. This would need to stop eventually, but that time was quite obviously not now.
Taking a few deep breaths, she tried to calm herself down. The albino didn’t want her partner seeing her so upset and getting cross with the poor by. He hadn’t meant anything by it; she knew that, he was scared in a strange and supposedly hunted house. That didn’t make it hurt any less, but she wanted to at least act like she was capable of putting up some sort of wall between her feelings and any words that could potentially coax more tears from her.
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Post by The Sidhe on Feb 3, 2013 17:21:48 GMT -5
Alan gave Rhett a skeptical look but nodded anyway, putting on a brave face. He was right. If there was a ghost, this guy would protect him for sure…or at least he hoped he would protect him. He could also decide he was sick of his shit and leave him to die, but Alan hoped that would happen considering this young man was his only hope of ever getting out of the supposedly haunted house. A look of completely feigned and terrified determination set itself on Alan’s face and he crept slowly forward.
At first he merely peered around the door, just to check. Maybe she’d gone awa-nope, nope, nope, she was still there. Couldn’t see her his left foot, Rhett was either lying or blind! Alan backpedaled out of instinct a bit but stopped himself, shaking his head and knocking himself in the cheek with his own fist, albeit not that hard. He could do this! He was a mighty and powerful eight year old ghost busting god! That thought in mind, Alan made it a whole four feet into the room where the pale girl was before fear made his feet freeze to the rotten wood of the floorboards.
Something was off though. Looking at her again, she was awfully solid and more brightly clothed than he’d ever expected for a ghost. Fear being replaced by curiosity, Alan blinked and tilted his head. Her shoulders were hunched, and he could her sniffling. Wait, ghosts couldn’t cry!
Oh…
Oh come on.
Hunching his own shoulders out of guilt, Alan slowly turned his head to look up at Rhett,
“She…really isn’t a ghost, huh?”
He’d have given a nervous laugh to try and lighten the moment if he hadn’t thought it would earn him a punch to the face. Still, the kid sure felt like a royal jackass now. Alan looked back over to the pale young woman, guilt plain on his face like he’d just kicked a puppy or something. Man, his mom was gonna throttle him when she found out he made a girl cry. With two sisters, that was rule number one at their house: never make a girl cry. Still, Alan didn’t really know what to say. An apology was of course in order, but how the hell was he supposed to approach that? Oh sorry for being a stupid little shit, I was so scared I damn near passed out? Okay maybe that wasn’t the best idea.
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Post by Rhett Minsky on Feb 13, 2013 11:51:32 GMT -5
Alan started to not be a total pain in the ass for a moment when he was beginning to walk like any sensible individual. Of course that couldn’t last too long now or else this NOT mission would just be too easy. When Alan started to move back Rhett sighed and tightened his grip on the kid’s shirt so he couldn’t get too far away. If Alan ran off again Rhett was seriously contemplating just leaving the kid for some other team. Maybe a One star team that could just pick him up and walk out. No they needed this, regardless of how infuriating the kid was.
It was almost a shame that Alan hit himself to knock some form of sense into him; Rhett would have gladly helped him with that. Apparently that had granted him some kind of semi-bravado and Alan actually walked into the room! Rhett followed to keep him in a pseudo leash like state just in case Alan took a turn for the terrified. No random running but he did stop again so Rhett had to follow suit. They were so close to getting him out of the house and being done with all things that were this mission.
Like a bolt from the blue Alan finally got some sense and looked at Rhett. He almost found the question too stupid to answer but he needed to if they were to get done with this. Leaning down so his face was near enough to Alan Rhett gave his response.
”Like I said, I haven’t seen any ghost here. There is my meister however who I believe you have something to say to.”
Letting go of Alan’s collar Rhett mustered up what little strength he had and gave the kid a push toward Lior. They could get out after Alan was finished, as long as the dust didn’t try to kill him before then.
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Lior Menke
Meister
Screw Technician
You can't control the wind, but you can adjust your sails.
Posts: 107
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Post by Lior Menke on Feb 15, 2013 18:07:22 GMT -5
Lior wiped her eyes, holding her hands over her face for a brief moment. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. A few deep breaths did calm her down considerably which was good. The last thing they needed was her in hysterics, not that she was anywhere near that point. With any luck this would be over soon and Alan would be able to go home and she and Rhett could turn in their mission and be that much closer to becoming One Star’s.
That last thought did give her some pause though. Becoming One Star’s seemed far away to her at the moment but after this, they would only need three more NOT level mission. It really wasn’t all that far off at all. Furrowing her brows, Lior adopted a worried expression. She couldn’t act like this when they were in a faraway place speaking to a contact or running through a dark forest searching for a Kishin Egg. Even so, the albino wasn’t sure how to better herself at not sniveling at every little thing. In short she needed to harden her heart, but she wasn’t quite sure how to do that. Even putting it that way seemed a bit extreme. It wasn’t that she wanted to be cold, it was that she wanted to have thick enough skin that not every little insult or jab at her albinism would send her away in tears.
But she could figure out how to handle such things later. Soft footsteps alerted her that Rhett and Alan were closer now. Dropping her hands from her face, Lior looked to see them enter the room at last. Seeing that Alan looked no worse for wear, she gave the two a gentle smile and let out a sigh of relief,
”You’re both alright, I’m so glad. I was a bit worried to be quite honest. This isn’t the safest place to go running around in after all.”
She was fronting. If she spoke it wasn’t as likely that she would start with the tears again even though he voice still shook a tad. Still, Alan didn’t seem frightened of her now. Perhaps Rhett had gotten him to regain his sense of logic? Whatever it was, he looked rather guilty. This in turn made Lior feel a tad bit guilty herself. It wasn’t his fault, but then she supposed it wasn’t really hers either. She couldn’t help but look like a ghost, and he’d been so scared. She shouldn’t have expected anything less from a frightened child, but the fact that he at least knew now that she wasn’t there to hurt him did make things better.
It was a bit comical, Rhett holding the boy by the back of his shirt. Still, it would at least keep him from running away. If anything, Lior was impressed. Rhett wasn’t exactly what one would call strong, but she knew he’d manage somehow and she’d been right. What her Weapon said next did bring a bit of a pink tint to her cheeks. Not wanting to guilt the boy further, she shook her head a bit and waved the hand that didn’t hold a parasol and tried to brush it off,
“Oh he doesn’t have to, it’s alright. I’ve heard far worse after all.”
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